Patriots Journal: Chandler Jones will be on home turf in season opener at Buffalo

FOXBORO — Opening Day last season was special for Chandler Jones. He already knows that this year’s opener will be special, too, although for a different reason.Jones wasted no time letting everyone know...

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By
PAUL KENYON
Posted Sep. 6, 2013 @ 8:33 pm

FOXBORO — Opening Day last season was special for Chandler Jones. He already knows that this year’s opener will be special, too, although for a different reason.

Jones wasted no time letting everyone know that he would be a good player for the Patriots. In his first pro game, the defensive end had a strip-sack against Tennessee. Fellow rookie Dont’a Hightower picked up the fumble and returned it for a touchdown.

“It was a great start having that happen in my first game,” Jones recalled. “It did give me a little confidence level. … It was a great moment, a moment that I’ll never forget. We still have the ball. Actually, he [Hightower] has the ball in his house.”

Jones also has a special memory from his first game at Gillette Stadium.

“It was going to be my first time coming out of the tunnel here. I was a little bit nervous. It was going to be my first game in front of the crowd,” he said. “I remember Gronk. He came up to me and he goes, ‘I went against you every day in practice, and you’re good.’ I’m like, wow, Rob Gronkowksi is telling me this. So it kind of gave me a confidence boost. It helped.”

This year’s opener will be meaningful because it will be a homecoming. The Syracuse grad is from Endicott, N.Y.

“I have a lot of family members in Rochester, so they’ll be there,” he said. He already has requests for five tickets for family members and expects more.

The game also will have Jones playing against his college coach. Doug Marrone, his coach at Syracuse, is the new Buffalo coach.

“He’s a good coach. I congratulate him on getting that job,” Jones said. “I’m excited to play against him.”

Jones was asked if he feels more comfortable going into his second season.

“I wouldn’t use the word comfortable,” he said. “I feel like I’m a little more experienced. I’m a little more confident. … It’s understanding the different concepts teams use, the different looks and knowing how to react to it.”

He and the other New England defenders do not care that Buffalo will have a rookie quarterback, EJ Manuel, calling signals.

“I’m not trying to read anything into it. They have a quarterback out there. No matter what year it is for him, you respect him,” Jones said. “He was named the starting quarterback. We’re going to treat him like a starting quarterback.”

“When I put my cleats on and I put my helmet on, I try to be the best number 95 I can be,” he said. “You get too much into what everyone else is doing, that’s when you lose your sense of focus in what you’re doing here as a team. You stay away from comparisons. I just try to be the best teammate, the best number 95 I can be.”

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New leadership

The Patriots will be part of the launching of a new era in Buffalo. The Bills have moved in a different direction from the top down.

After eight straight losing seasons and not reaching the playoffs since 1999, Ralph Wilson, the team’s 94-year-old owner, has turned over the team presidency to Russ Brandon. Brandon has worked in the Bills’ front office since 1997.

Buddy Nix, Buffalo’s 73-year-old general manager, has moved over and been given the title of special assistant. Doug Whaley, who worked for the Steelers for 10 years, including as the team’s pro personnel coordinator, was promoted from assistant general manager to GM.

Marrone, the new head coach, has brought his offensive coordinator at Syracuse with him to the Bills. The 33-year-old Nathaniel Hackett is the son of former University of Pittsburgh head coach Paul Hackett.

Hackett’s presence is especially interesting because Marrone makes no secret of the fact that Hackett’s father was one of the biggest influences in his career, particularly when it comes to offensive philosophy.

“I think most of it probably goes back to things we did in New Orleans [when he was an assistant there] and some of the principles that I had there. Obviously, Coach Hackett, I worked for his dad [Paul] in New York for quite some time, so basically our background is pretty much the foundation of what we’ve done. It has been the same. I think we did some good things at Syracuse. I think everywhere you go, whether it be the Jets or the Saints or Syracuse, all of my experiences, I think you put together and you formulate what you feel is the best way to attack people and the best way to win as long as you can fit it in the system.”

Yo-yo week for Develin

Fullback James Develin, who was released earlier in the week after making the initial 53-man roster, has been re-signed

Develin spent most of the 2012 season on the New England practice squad and four weeks on the 53-man roster, seeing action in one game vs. San Francisco on Dec. 16.

The 6-foot-3, 255-pounder, who has an engineering degree, was a defensive end at Brown. He switched to fullback in the United and Arena Leagues and made it to the NFL with the Bengals practice squad in 2011.

The Patriots have made 23 transactions since cutdown day and currently are one below the roster limit. Their roster includes 13 rookies.

Injury updates

Gronkowski practiced again on Friday, but is listed as doubtful for Sunday.

The injury report each team must file on Friday adds the likelihood of each player taking part in the game.

Will Svitek, who did not practice all week, is listed as out with a knee injury. Gronkowski had limited participation Friday, as he did all week, and is listed as doubtful, meaning he has a 25-percent chance of playing.

Those listed as questionable, meaning they have a 50-50 chance of playing, are Brandon Bolden (knee), Aaron Dobson (hamstring), Nate Ebner (ankle) and Duron Harmon (hamstring). Danny Amendola (groin) had full participation for the first time all week and is probable.